Why you must eat one Avocado a day

An average male adult needs up to 2500 calories a day to stay healthy, while the average female adult needs about 2000 calories a day. The best and balanced diet for a day, is one which is made up of 45-65 percent of carbohydrates, 35 percent protein and the rest of the nutrients should come from other classes of food.

Fats are also important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and even weight loss. This is why it should take up to 20 percent of our daily diet, of which cholesterol should not be more than 300 milligrams.

The Avocado, also known as alligator pear, falls into the categories of foods that contain healthy fats, with so many nutritional values and health benefits that could balance our diet in terms of daily intake of fat.

Here's why you must eat one avocado a day:

It is rich in unsaturated fat

Avocados contain over 20 grams of fats, most of which are unsaturated(healthy) fats. This type of fats is what I call "the good guys", because they help to protect us from heart diseases and stroke. Thus, it would be advisable to substitute most of the fatty foods we eat daily e.g butter, for one avocado.

One benefit of unsaturated fat in the body is that it can be easily converted into energy, which makes it a good substitute for grainy carbs.

It is recommended for weight loss

Another reason you must eat one avocado a day is to maintain a healthy weight or to burn fat. This is because, avocados contain little or no amount of cholesterol and trans-fat which is responsible for weight gain, but is rich in unsaturated fat which is compulsory for our daily diet.

Dieticians advice that we cut down on our intake of carbohydrates and increase our consumption of unsaturated fat (for which avocado is an excellent source) if we want to lose weight. Also, it contains a reasonable amount of fiber which makes it slow to digest and thereby prevents overeating.

It is made up of essential vitamins and minerals

The avocado is rich in essential vitamins and minerals. Some of the vitamins present in the fruit are Vitamin E, K, B5 and B6, C. It contains a number of phyto-nutrients. This nutrients enable the body to absorb carotenoids, which is necessary for healthy digestion.

It contains anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory substances like flavonoids and Omega-3 fatty acids as well as substances that could prevent cancer in the mouth, prostate gland and skin.

One good thing about the avocado fruit is the fact that it is one of the safest fruit you can buy commercially. Its thick skin protects the nutrients from being damaged by pesticides and preservatives.

It maintains a balanced ratio of Sodium and potassium in the body

It has panthothenic acid, pottassium and magnesium but does not contain sodium which makes it healthy for the heart.

Studies have shown that a higher intake of sodium with little consumption of potassium is the major cause of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the avocado provides the body with the appropriate balance of sodium and potassium it needs.

It reduces the risk of heart diseases and cancer

Aside from the anti-inflamatory and anti-oxidant benefits of the avocado, it also has anti-cancer benefits. Though research is still ongoing, but the general belief is that it could prevent oral cancer, since cancer development has to do with lack of anti-inflammatory nutrients and lack of anti-oxidants of which the avocado is rich in both.